As chancellor of the Exchequer, he helped lift Britain with tax cuts and other Conservative measures — the “Lawson Boom” — but harder times followed, and he resigned.
Public sympathy for striking nurses and other health workers is particularly strong, posing a challenge for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has promised to confront trade unions.
In the 1970s, Margaret Thatcher accused the Labour government of losing control. Now, the same charge is being leveled by Labour against the Conservatives.
Animated by a fantasy version of the free market, Prime Minister Liz Truss set off a sequence of events that led her to the brink of being ousted by her own party.